Your Weekly AR & VR Review

Good Morning, hope your all having a nice weekend.

Welcome to this weeks virtual reality & augmented reality review, its been quite an exciting past few weeks and there’s lots to talk about so lets get started.

Just quickly though, I would like to put together a list of the top vr & ar books to read and I would appreciate it if you could give me your input, once completed I will publish the list for all to see.

Virtual reality porn, is it a good thing or a bad thing? Its hard to say, as it is still such a new concept, what’s your thoughts on it all?

China is leading the way at the moment and it seems it is quickly growing in popularity! I won’t go into detail on how and why now as the article really covers all aspects, but I will say that this virtual reality has the power to change the way we view porn and to potentially make the sex industry safer.

Augmented Reality in the retail sector, I cannot wait for the day that I can walk down the high street and see visual merchandising in augmented reality. I am also really looking forward to testing out IKEA’s new AR shopping experience, I mean how cool would it be to design your living room using your smartphone or tablet.

The collapse of the Azure Window earlier this year represents a significant loss to the cultural and natural heritage of Malta and Gozo. However, thanks to the work of creative start-up Equinox Digital, the Iconic Sea arch, which featured in Game Of Thrones, has been digitally resurrected using Drone and Augmented Reality tech.

“Luckily, we had the opportunity to scan the Azure Window weeks before its collapse. From our Scan data we generated a photo realistic 3D model of the site, we then incorporated the model in an Augmented Reality platform which allows us to project the model into a real world context.”

On Easter Sunday the Equinox team traveled back to Gozo to test the application on site and also gain feedback from the public.

We were surprised to see so many locals and tourists gathered on site, even weeks after the collapse. I mean, it was quiet surreal, the arch had fallen, but people where still drawn to the site, many were taking photos of where the Arch had once stood.”

We took the opportunity to showcase our work to as many people as possible, and the response was very positive. The local Gozitans where impressed with the applications of Drone and AR technology, and it gave first time visitors to the site the chance to visualize the Azure Window in a meaningful way.”

Archaeologist and Equinox founder Daniel Maher researched the use of drones for the monitoring of Coastal Heritage during his MSc at the Glasgow School of Art. The fact that Equinox managed to survey the Azure Window before its collapse acts as a proof of concept for the type of work they are conducting.

By creating a permanent digital record of the Azure Window, Equinox Digital has ensured that future generations will have the opportunity to engage with and learn from the Azure Window in a meaningful and educational fashion.

“We are currently in talks with the Malta Tourist Authority about establishing a permanent Augmented Reality experience at the site. Which is genuinely exciting; if it goes ahead, I believe it will be the one of the largest such Augmented Reality projects in the world today.”

Equinox Digital was founded by Archaeologist and 3D documentation specialist Daniel Maher with Malta Enterprise and DBACE funding in 2016. They specialize in the generation of photo realistic 3D content of heritage sites and using Augmented and Virtual Reality platforms to provide an engaging and educational experience of our shared global heritage.

Jonathan Wood

Jonathan Wood is Business Development Manager at TDMB Tech. A passionate tech geek, he loves talking to anyone and everyone working in the world of technology. He’s also a massive advocate for getting tech companies the exposure they need to build their presence within the booming technology industry.
Aside from his love of tech, Jon is also a long time Spice Girls fan (he was a member of their fan club throughout the nineties). If you would like to get in touch with him, either about Technology or The Spice Girls, you can drop him a line on Twitter, LinkedIn, or email him directly: jonathan@thedigitalmarketingbureau.com.